The album comprises a mix of original songs and covers of classic blues tunes, and is produced by Gibbons and Joe Hardy, who's previously worked with Alice Cooper, Depeche Mode, Alex Chilton and Ry Cooder.

On "Rollin' and Tumblin'," Gibbons puts his own stamp on a song made famous by Muddy Waters, who adapted it from a 1929 tune by Hambone Willie Newbern. The song has since been covered by Bob Dylan, Cream, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton and others.

Big Bad Blues will follow up Gibbons' first solo album, 2015's Perfectamundo. The BFGs backed him up on that Afro-Cuban album. So far, few details have surfaced on the new record.

"Following the success of Perfectamundo, which was our stab at taking a piece from the Cuban influences … [record label executives] said, 'Okay, we've done this Cuban thing, can you go back to your bluesier roots?'" Gibbons said earlier this year. "And we've decided to do just that. So, hopefully summertime we'll see something BFG and blue coming out."

Gibbons also recently went into the studio with ZZ top's current tourmate, John Fogerty, and they recorded the recently released song "Holy Grail." He also has been recording with the Moving Sidewalks, the band he played in prior to forming ZZ Top. The band reunited for a few shows in 2013, with Gibbons saying in 2015 that they were planning to release a new record. He recently said "hopefully that'll see the light of day. Probably this year."

Gibbons also promises a new solo tour will follow the release of The Big Bad Blues.